Outside the building, a small crowd had started to gather, consisting mostly of staff that wandered around dazed and confused. The shrill of the fire alarm refused to be silenced, its pitiful cries calling out into the night to mingle with the approaching sirens of the fire engines that had started to arrive.
On the sidewalk amidst the flashing lights of the emergency vehicles, Greg sank to his knees, unaware of the deep gash in his forehead that cascaded blood down his face. He stared ahead, his whole body refusing to cooperate with his mind as he stared with wide eyes, watching the rising smoke swirling up into the sky. His body was shaking with shock, clawing him down into the dark pit of night as he started to rock backwards and forwards, wrapping his arms around his body.
"Sir," a voice spoke behind him, causing him to turn his head slightly to see a paramedic kneeling beside him, "can you walk?"
"I," he started, his voice swallowed inside the violent waves that shook throughout his entire body. "My friends."
"Sir you have to move away from the building," the man spoke softly, moving down to help him to his feet.
"My friends," Greg muttered again, pointing weakly to the building before him.
"We're going to help them," he promised, leading him away to an awaiting ambulance, one of many that had started to line up along the roadside.
During the confusion, Brass arrived from the crime scene he had just attended with both Catherine and Grissom. He surveyed the scene with growing alarm, his mind trying to process the scene of destruction before him. Climbing out of his car, he ran towards the people gathered on the sidewalk, searching the faces for his friends. "What happened?" he asked frantically, looking from face to face, only to be met with silence. Scanning the crowd, he saw someone he recognized, and made his way through the sea of bodies littering the sidewalk, as the paramedics attended to their injuries.
"Archie?" he yelled, finding the young lab tech who stared straight ahead with unseeing eyes.
"Archie," he asked again, "What happened? Where's the night shift?"
"I…" Archie started, his voice shaking as he tried to speak. "It was so fast, I don't know what happened."
"But the night shift? Sara? Nicky?"
The lab tech's eyes turned from him to watch the building before him, the flames and smoke mesmerizing him as he slowly shook his head. "I don't know," he whispered through the tremors coursing their way throughout his body. "I ..."
"Oh god," Brass gasped, his stomach suddenly rolling in waves as the truth finally hit him. Looking around he raced over towards some firemen who were helping the walking wounded out of the building.
"There's people inside," he blurted. "They could be trapped."
"Sir step back," one of the firemen told him.
"There's good people in there," he protested, trying to avoid the restraining hands pushing him away.
"Let us do our job," someone spoke behind him, causing him to turn to see a man he recognized. Hank Pedigrew.
"You have to help them," Brass said shakily, his voice dripping with desperation, "Get them out, Sara's in there."
For a moment Hank's eyes flashed with worry only to fall back into his work mode again. "We'll get her out, now please move back so we can do our job."
Brass stared at him, stepping backwards to let him pass, his mind racing with distorted images. Grissom, he had to let Grissom know. Pulling his phone from his pocket, he looked down at it for a second, his mind and heart conflicting with indecision. He knew how Grissom felt about his team, especially the young woman who was still inside the burning building, so making a decision; he punched in the speed dial number and held the phone to his ear, his heart thumping wildly as he heard the voice on the other end. "Gil, you have to get back to the lab, there's been an accident. No I don't know, just get here." Shutting off the phone, he shoved it back into his pocket and turned around on the sidewalk to make his way towards the ambulance crews to offer any help he could.
Nick could hear the sirens as he looked down at the cell phone in his hand again, cursing the blank screen for the hundredth time in an hour. "Work dammit," he muttered, throwing the phone onto the floor in frustration as he tried to move his trapped legs. With shaking hands, he moved down to the mangled wire that was wrapped between his body and the wall, sending coursing pain to roar throughout his stomach. "AARGGHH," he seethed, his hands trembling as he tried to pull the metal away.
Time had seemed to stand still in the darkness, the silence deafening inside his ears as he looked around for something to focus on. Images flooded his mind. Images of people he knew, people he hadn't talked to for a long time, and here, in the darkness, he began to feel the dreaded pang of regret. He had left so many things unsaid, so many things he should have done before, but always thought he could put them off until later, he had time enough right? But now, here, bleeding and alone, the sadness began to eat away inside his aching body.
Nick could smell his own blood in the mingling dust, the copper smell causing his eyes to grow heavy as the reality of the situation started to sink into his mind. He was alone; he didn't want to die alone.
Closing his eyes, he barely heard the rubble shifting from the empty space before him, his tired mind unfocussed.
"OVER HERE," someone called, scrambling over the rubble to reach him. "Sir," the fireman spoke through his mask. "Sir?"
Opening his eyes slowly, Nick looked up in dazed confusion, his voice failing to speak as tears of relief flooded his eyes.
"Hang tight," the fireman nodded, "we're gonna get you out of here."
"Sara," Nick muttered in a ragged whisper, moving his head to watch the crumbled entrance where Warrick had not long ago walked through. "In there," he breathed heavily, his body convulsing as it tried to dispel the dust from his lungs. "Lindsey, she's there, just a girl."
"A child?" the fireman asked worriedly. "There's a child in there too?"
Nick nodded blindly, his body overcome with pain when the fireman tried to free him from the mangled wire twisted around his legs. Sinking down, Nick's eyes slipped into unconsciousness, the pain driving his body into numbing overdrive.
"OVER HERE," the fireman called to his colleagues, alerting them to his whereabouts, "WE NEED A MEDIC." Within minutes Nick's body was swamped in a flurry of medical staff, lifting his unconscious form onto a stretcher ready to take him to safety.
"Okay people," the fireman spoke, walking towards what was left of the doors. "We have a child trapped somewhere in here, keep alert and look for any signs of collapse."
Moving aside, he and four other fire officers moved cautiously through the building in search of survivors.
Further inside the corridor, Warrick stumbled over the fallen rubble, making his way towards the now wrecked labs. The darkness surrounded him as he trod over broken glass that crunched beneath his feet. He needed to find them, to take them out of here and reunite Lindsey with her mother, but the more he moved the more terror filled his veins. The blast had ripped through this corridor and taken most of the glass panels with it, bringing an urgency to his heart. "SARA," he yelled frantically, his voice shaking with emotion. "LINDSEY."
He stopped to listen; his breathing heavy as he tried to stop the dust filtering through his hands over his mouth. Pushing closer, he called again. "SARA."
Inside the washroom, Sara had sunk into unconsciousness, her body losing the battle to keep her alert. Sitting up slightly, Lindsey shook Sara's arm, trying to bring her awake. "Sara, I hear something."
" S'okay," Sara muttered, dragging her eyes open. "S'okay."
"Sara. I can hear someone calling your name," Lindsey said again, shaking Sara until she opened her eyes fully, blinking back the tiredness that threatened to engulf her.
"SARA," they heard again, closer this time.
Sara moved her body, dragging her legs towards the wall, clenching her teeth as the pain shot through her thighs. "HERE," she yelled as she clawed at the barrier keeping them both locked inside, only to pull back when her voice cracked into coughs when more pieces of debris fell from above them causing her to instinctively reach out to pull Lindsey close to her, shielding her body with her own. They both heard a movement of rubble being pulled away from what was left of the door, and for the first time since this whole nightmare had begun, Sara allowed herself to unleash the tears pooling inside her eyes.
"SARA," the voice called again, outside, and close, the desperation evident in his voice.
"WARRICK," Lindsey yelled through sobs, her arms tightening around Sara's body as she tried to help her to stand.
"You're gonna be okay sweetie," Sara mumbled tiredly, her legs slipping back beneath her again. "You're gonna see your mom."
"We're gonna be okay," Lindsey sobbed, clinging to her. "WARRICK, HELP US."
Outside, Warrick frantically pulled some of the fallen debris away. "I'M COMING," he yelled. "HONEY I'M COMING."
"Did you hear?" Lindsey sobbed, turning her eyes up to Sara. "We're getting out of here."
Nodding her head weakly, Sara forced a smile to her lips. She knew enough about the human body to know that she had lost a lot of blood. With every second that passed she could feel herself becoming more unfocussed, more unresponsive and she could feel her heart beating slower inside her chest. Fighting to stay conscious, she pulled Lindsey towards her, unaware that her blood on her hands had left spattered patterns all over the little girl's clothes. "When you get out of here," she whispered weakly, her eyes slipping closed only to open again as she spoke, "tell your mom I'm sorry."
"No I won't," Lindsey sobbed, grabbing fistfuls of Sara's shirt to shake her eyes open again. "You're not going to leave me."
"Not leaving sweetie," Sara slurred, her eyes rolling back into her head again as she fought to stay alert, "promise me?"
"No, no, I won't promise," Lindsey sobbed, "you told me you wouldn't leave me, you promised me."
"So tired," Sara whispered, her hand slipping from Lindsey's shoulder as she lost the battle to stay awake.
"Sara," Lindsey sobbed, scrambling onto Sara's unconscious body to wrap her arms around her waist, as her tears soaked through to Sara's cooling skin, just as the first barrier keeping them inside was pulled away to reveal a small gap where Warricks face appeared.
TBC….
